Plagiarism

I feel like I’m stealing everyone’s ideas this year. It all started with Liz thinking about ‘less’ and Nana Cathy looking to ‘divest’, which led to me clearing out a few areas of my flat. These are the boxes of yarn going to Knit For Peace, taking 74 skeins out of my stash.

I’ve also gone through my books, CDs, DVDs, clothes, shoes, and the unnecessary number of mugs in the cupboard. It feels so good to get rid of things I don’t need and gain a bit of space back.

Next up was Kim who mentioned Yarnpond, a site for pattern testing. I applied for a couple of tests and got accepted for one of them, which features this interesting texture.

I’m only allowed to post teasers at the moment so no more details on that.

Bonny posted about her mittens for Loose Ends, an organisation that matches unfinished projects from people who have passed away with local crafters who can complete the project and return all that love and care to the families. I so love using my crafting to help others so I signed up right away. It might be a while before I’m matched with an item but I’m on the list and ready to go when needed.

And then CA made a Heidi Bears dinosaur and inspired me to get going with making my own, after holding on to the pattern for 5 years without even starting.

These are the flowers I’ve made so far. Only 10 to go.

So if anyone finds themselves wondering what’s the point of their blogging, keep it up and you just might inspire someone else (probably me) to action with your writing.

Hannah

xXx

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Sock it to me Monday 40

I got seriously side-tracked by charity knitting, but this week I’m back to my socks. Third time lucky, I finished the first of my shortie socks and made a start on the second one.

This time they’re fitting perfectly, hooray!

Hannah

xXx

Gauge matters

The mitten on the left is the large adult size from The World’s Simplest Mittens. The mitten on the right is the toddler size. Gauge matters, people.

I’m going to donate the bigger pair so a child can have nice warm hands, and I think I’ll turn the little ones into tree ornaments somehow. If they were made of something more easily washable I might have sent them down to my 3-month-old niece because they would probably fit her fine!

Despite the sizing issues I am really pleased with them. I probably could have faffed with the yarn a bit more to get a thinner red stripe on the big mitten thumb, but I’m pleased that both pairs match pretty much perfectly. I count this as a job (fairly) well done.

Hannah

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WIP Wednesday 24.11.21

Current WIP count: 9

My charity crafting slowed down a lot last week as I decided to knit a matching hat and cowl set, and I am SUCH a slow knitter. They turned out gorgeous though so I’m not mad (photos to come when I’ve sewn the ends in).

I also thought it was time to get started on some other items and here I ran into a problem. Using Tin Can Knits The World’s Simplest Mittens pattern, I decided to go for the adult (large) size to use up as much yarn as possible. But I ended up with this:

I know ribbing stretches, but there is no way this tiny thing will ever stretch enough to fit a large adult. I refuse to frog and start again so these are now toddler mittens. Thank goodness the charity is accepting donations for all ages. 

Next up I might actually try the smallest size in the pattern and use them as tiny adorable tree decorations. We’ll see how fiddly they turn out to be.

Hannah

xXx

 

WIP Wednesday 10.11.21

Current WIP count: 8 (plus a lot of ends)

So far I’ve cranked out five charity hats in various sizes and one matching scarf, finishing up one ball of mystery rainbow yarn and taking a chunk out of the cream yarn.

Then I did a bit of a stash dive and pulled out these odds and ends.

The blue-green-yellow one was pretty much a whole skein so I decided it could be a hat all by itself, and for the rest I’ll probably stick with the original plan of mixing them with the cream until it runs out.

I have told myself that once I get to ten hats I will sew all the ends in before starting any new ones – who thinks I’ll actually stick to that?

Hannah

xXx

To arms!

I have received the yarnery call-to-arms! My workplace is collecting donations for a homeless charity for Christmas and the wish list includes hats, gloves, scarves, and socks to fit all ages, shapes, and genders. Time to get stash-busting.

I’ve already picked out this mahoosive skein to be used up first, probably with different pops of colour because that’s my jam.

This 400g baby ended up in my stash because I wildly over-estimated how much yarn I would need to finish off my Roses for Grandma blanket, so it’s perfect for quick charity makes. Plus I think Grandma would be pleased that something made for her will lead to other people being kept nice and warm during the Scottish winter.

I’m actually really excited about this – I love making for charity. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to start the first of many hats.

Hannah

xXx

Walking WIP Thursday

Current WIP count: 7

Man I wish I’d got this written for yesterday. You can never have too much alliteration!

I don’t think I’ve mentioned before that I’m doing a sponsored walking challenge to raise money for Diabetes UK – the aim is to walk one million steps between July 1st and September 30th. This averages out to 10,870 steps per day, which at my pace takes just under two hours.

You wouldn’t think two hours could have that much impact on my day, especially considering I’m still furloughed, but for various reasons it’s really cutting into my crafting time.

So the only logical solution is to knit while I’m walking, isn’t it!

No action shot, as it’s really hard to walk and knit and take a photo at the same time, but here’s a progress shot instead.

Today I managed to knit 6 rows on my socks without walking into any lamp posts/bins/other people – success!

Hannah

xXx

June review 2020

Stash used this month: 9.75 (I think my maths for this one has gone wrong somewhere, but the next two stats are definitely correct according to Excel)

Total stash used this year: 34.75

Stash remaining: 325

 

Oooooh I’m getting closer and closer to that 300 mark. I definitely think I can manage it before the end of the year, especially if I make sure to look at my thicker yarn and don’t just focus on sock yarn forever more.

 

Charity makes

One pair of adult socks.

Plus a quick pair of toddler socks.

Makes for myself

Rainbow slipper socks

And a whole bunch of work on the Beachcombing blanket, which is (once again) where most of the yarn got used up this month. My totals are going to plummet when this thing is done!

Makes for others

I finished the boyfriend’s socks and he loves them. He was disappointed to learn they had to be hand-washed though.

And that was June, apparently. I can’t believe it’s already July and we’re halfway through 2020. What a year…

Hannah

xXx

May review 2020

Stash used this month: 6.25

Total stash used this year: 23.75

Stash remaining: 334.75

Woo I’m on a roll! I do love making socks, but what with my glacier-like knitting speed and the teeny tiny yarn, they really don’t use up much stash. It’s the Beachcombing CAL that’s gobbling up all those skeins, getting me closer and closer to the 300 target.

This month I’m using some chunkier yarn to make thick socks so that should really help with the count.

As for last month:

Charity makes

None this time. It’s hard to be motivated when I know I’m not going to the post office for a while so can’t send them off.

Makes for myself

I finished my socks! So proud.

And there’s been a lot of progress on the Beachcombing blanket.

This one might not end up being for me, but as it has no destination at the moment I’m making it purely for my own enjoyment.

Makes for others

I’ve almost finished the boyfriend’s socks. Just in time for the weather to turn more stereotypically Scottish, so they might actually be needed. Yay (ish)!

There was also a lot of baking, mainly sourdough crumpets, but that doesn’t help much with stash mountain, does it?

So onwards with the yarnery!

Hannah

xXx

March review 2020

Stash used this month: 4 skeins

Total stash used this year: 15.5 skeins

Stash remaining: 340 skeins

Not too much progress this month. The boyfriend got frustrated with purl stitch and took a break from knitting, so he hasn’t knocked any off the stash this time. But I know how addictive knitting is – I’m sure he’ll be back at it soon.

As for me, I’ve been working on some bigger/more complicated projects so there aren’t many FOs to go on the list.

 

Charity makes

I made two baby bonnets to test a pattern, and they’ll both be going to charity.

They’re not makes for this month, but I finally sewed in all the ends of a bunch of items that have been lying around for months (years?) that will also go to charity.

 

Makes for myself

A COVID-19 stress ball.

The beginning of a pair of socks. At least I think they’re for me. We’ll see if they fit.

 

Makes for others

It looks like this Flax will be for the boyfriend. Or charity if he doesn’t like it. But really, what’s not to like??  I’ve found that I really enjoy making things for him so this probably won’t be his only jumper from me.

 

It’s not been too bad a month, considering everything that’s going on at the moment.  My work is looking to furlough me (is that how to say it? Nobody seems to know) pretty soon, so I’ll have all the crafting time I could ever want. And then some. Let’s see how much I can get made next month!

Hannah

xXx

Swatchless Flax-ing

Yes, I started knitting a jumper without a hint of a gauge swatch. Didn’t even entertain the thought for more than a second. But it’s okay; I have a plan.

I’m following the pattern instructions for a Medium, which is the boyfriend’s size. If it turns out my gauge is right then yay he’ll have a new jumper. If my gauge is off it’ll likely be looser than recommended, which should make the end result big enough to fit me and I’ll have a new jumper – It’s a win either way.

And if it’s a total disaster that doesn’t really fit either of us then I have a charity box just waiting for some more goodies, and it will still be a good chunk of yarn out of my stash. But I’m optimistic that one of us will get a squishy new jumper out of this.

Hannah

xXx

Finally finishing

Current WIP count: 5

So far this week has been more about finishing off old projects than working on new ones.

While sorting through my FO box, as well as moths (UGH!!) I also discovered that I’m even worse at sewing in ends than I thought.  About 95% of them were technically UFOs because there were ends hanging out eeeeeverywhere.

I am determined to actually get them to a charity rather than sitting around the flat, so the last few days have been a bit of an end-a-thon to get everything done and dusted.

This is the pile of true FOs now:

And this is what I have left to sew in:

 

You probably won’t remember, as I mentioned it so briefly and ages ago, that I snapped the cast off of my Flax Light the first time I wore it (curse these hips). What I didn’t say at the time was that I couldn’t face fixing the hundreds of teeny tiny stitches, so it went in the naughty corner and there it stayed until this week.

I managed to catch the stitches where the yarn broke and went round undoing the cast off, then I attached some more yarn and had a go at Jenny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.  It’s a bit tedious, what with having to lift over two loops individually for every single stitch, but boy does it stretch!

The edge looks shonky because the needle I used for cast off was too big. I keep telling myself I can deal with it because the jumper actually fits me, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this will end up being undone and cast off for a third time at some point. We shall see.

I did also start another hat at choir this week, until I remembered I was going to use that yarn for a Flax so I frogged it all. Hopefully by next week I’ll have some progress to show on that, but for now it’s back to those ends!

Hannah

xXx